History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

cap. Iv.] SECLUSION AFTER CONFINEMENT. 157

during that period she is not allowed to touch anything besides her own bed and the child’s cradle. Nor can any member of the family, not even her own husband, touch her. She must not be allowed to walk on a carpet, and the floor of her chamber is consequently uncovered. The rich and well-to-do, who live in large houses by themselves, set apart a room for this purpose; but where separate families live as tenants on different flats of a house, a room on the ground-floor is generally assigned by the landlord for the use of all the tenants on such occasions. ‘This practice of keeping the woman apart during the first forty days of her confinement is not based on any religious injunction. Some of the sages of ancient days are supposed to have devised the plan in the interest of the woman’s health for keeping her separate from her husband during her monthly turn, and during her confinement, as well as to afford her a sufficient period of rest, when she should not be compelled to do any household work by unfeeling mothersin-law or apathetic and cruel husbands. The practice, however, from the nature of the room in which she is confined, is productive of the greatest harm to her in her delicate state, and also to the little stranger whom she has recently brought into the world. There is hardly any ventilation in her room, so that the mother and child are deprived of fresh air at the very time

that they most need it. Heaven alone knows how